


the true queen

by CeruleanTactician



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Ficlet, Gen, Matricide, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Odin (Marvel)'s A+ Parenting, POV Antagonist, POV Female Character, POV Hela (Marvel), Pre-Canon, Pre-Thor (2011), Present Tense, Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Unreliable Narrator, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26788015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeruleanTactician/pseuds/CeruleanTactician
Summary: Hela and the queens of Asgard, over the years.
Relationships: Frigga & Hela (Marvel), Hela & Hela's Mother (Marvel)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	the true queen

“I remember when you used to smile, my child,” her mother says, looking up from her book.

“I still smile, Mother.” Hela replies, like she always does, absently polishing one of her knives. 

She looks at her mother and gives her one. She smiles like a wolf, like her father, and thinks of what makes her happy: victory, conquest, and the look in the eyes of her enemies when she cuts them down.

Her mother doesn’t pretend like she used to. She looks away from her, but her worry is no longer hidden. Her worry, her sadness, her _fear_. Hela stops smiling.

* * *

On the day of the coup- on the day when the All-Father, that foolish, sentimental old man who she can no longer recognize as her father will finally be put where he belongs- Hela finds her mother in her childhood bedroom. She sits near the window, somehow still as regal as ever, even sitting on the floor like a child.

Hela hates it when she gets like this.

“My dear child,” her mother says, not looking up. “Do you remember this? You used to carry it around the whole day when you were a girl.”

She holds up a doll, a small cloth thing, with dark black hair that is like Hela’s and that is like her mother’s. Hela frowns. She does remember it. She observes it out of the corner of her eye, just as she summons a blade worthy of killing a queen of Asgard. Then she crosses the distance between them.

“Mother, please,” says Hela, leaning down and taking the doll from her hands. She tosses it aside and doesn’t look to see where it lands. “Defend yourself on your feet. Do your duty.”

Her mother gets to her feet. “I will not fight you, daughter. You may get all else you wish for from me, but not that.”

And just like that, any old sentimentality Hela felt towards her mother vanished. 

This was all her mother’s fault, of course. Hela already knew that. She was the one who’d been whispering in her father’s ear that the ways of their people were _wrong_ and wasn’t Hela so _monstrous_ for doing what she’d been trained for every day of her life. What she did better than any who came before her, including her parents. 

Hela would not be denied her place in the empire that _she_ had built because her mother was a coward and her father a fool.

Still. She makes it quick, and aims for her heart.

* * *

Later, Hela will think that’s what truly did her in, doomed her to eternity imprisoned instead of an honorable death. She dared touch the All-Father’s queen. 

Hela always knew he loved her more, but it still hurt.

She meets her father’s second wife much later, while she is still imprisoned.

Her prison looks like the palace she grew up in. It’s an illusion, of course, but everything is there. The throne room, the sprawling grounds, her bedroom. The only thing she cannot do is leave. She finds tolerable activities- walking through the grounds, sitting on her father’s throne, occasionally even reading in the library. 

She’s in her mother’s old rooms, rereading some ancient tome when the woman appears. Hela is so surprised by the presence of another being she almost- but doesn’t- jump.

The woman curtsies respectfully. “I apologize if I startled you. I am Frigga Freyrdottir, my princess, newly married to your father. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Her first thought after the woman introduces herself is that her father has married a witch. A _Vanir_ witch. The new queen of Asgard.

“What are you doing here?” asks Hela, too incredulous and hurt, filters gone after however long her father has kept her here.

“I wanted to meet you,” she says.

Frigga is young, and beautiful, just as she imagines her mother once was. Or, at least, she looks that way in the image she’s projected into Hela’s cage. She wonders if this new queen whispers things to the All-Father too. She wonders if she lives in her mother’s suites now, or if they are left empty out of respect. Probably the former, if she knows her father.

Which she does.

“No,” says Hela, and she smiles because she’s been alone for too long for this not to be _delightful_. “That’s not it. I can see right through you, witch. You don’t trust him.”

Frigga says nothing, seeming taken aback, so after a moment Hela takes another step towards her. "My princess, you misunderstand-" she begins.

“Oh, _yes_. I misunderstand, do I? You don’t want to know what truly happened to the last queen?”

Frigga is silent.

“Well, never fear, my lady. Those nasty rumors about your new husband aren’t true. I killed her myself.” Hela doesn’t ever lie. She’s never needed to.

Frigga pales, slightly. Hela bares her teeth. It was just guesswork, really. She's had ample time to speculate about what life is like in Asgard without her. She seems to be hitting the mark.

“And,” she says, still grinning. “When my father dies, and I get out of here, I’ll give you the same death. A death fit for a queen of Asgard, brought by the Goddess of Death herself. Tell Father I said hello, little queen.”

With all her power, Hela tries to reach through to her, to grab Frigga’s spirit and _pull her in_. Frigga’s eyes widen and she vanishes. Hela’s smile goes with her. Her regret is immediate. She shouldn’t have tried that. Now the little queen will never come back.

“So nice of you to visit,” says Hela aloud, to no one.


End file.
